


Protecting Them His Way

by babygirl127



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Medical Procedures, Self-Inflicted Wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 06:17:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10634013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babygirl127/pseuds/babygirl127
Summary: Don will do anything he thinks is necessary to make sure he is always ready to protect his family





	

Silent as shadows, two forms made their way through the sewer system of New York City. With the stealth that only comes from years of practice they made their way from one tunnel to the next leaving no trace of their presence behind. It was only when they had started to leave the tunnels that were printed on city documentation and enter passages that most people had forgotten about that they began to relax though they were no less vigilant. There were too many people that would be all too happy to see their demise for them to be so careless.

Five more minutes of walking brought the two creatures to an unassuming section of wall that gave way before them with a few quick taps to a well hidden keypad. Light spilled out into the sewer tunnel as the two entered their home, closing the hidden entrance behind them from any prying eyes.

A quiet sigh of relief passed Leo’s lips as he slung off the bag he had been carrying and looked around the main area of the lair to check on the rest of his family. Beside him Don took the satchel and added it to his own load as he started making his way towards his lab. On his way he passed by Raph and Mikey who were laying back on the couch watching one of Mikey’s favorite monster movies.

The red banded turtle gave Don a nod as he walked by and fist bumped the leader as Leo took a seat on the empty chair. Mikey was too enraptured by the movie that he had watched a million times before too pay much attention to the return of his brothers. There was also the fact that the youngest had been told on doctor’s orders that he wasn’t to move around anymore than necessary on his leg that was currently wrapped in a clean white bandage and elevated on Raph’s lap.

Don just gave the group a small smile and continued on his way to his lab. Tonight had been a shopping run to a bunch local clinics to stock up on the medical supplies that they seemed to be constantly going through. Normally with all four of them going out and splitting into pairs they could cover more ground and get what they needed faster but that hadn’t been an option tonight and Don was bone tired. All he wanted to do was to just drop everything on the floor to take care of tomorrow and crawl into bed.

Closing the door behind him and engaging the lock, Don shock his head to try and wake himself up a bit. As much as he might want to go to bed there was still plenty of work left for him to do. As both a ninja and the resident doctor of his family there was a never ending list of things for the purple banded turtle to get through.

The first thing on that list was sorting through all of the medical supplies that he and Leo had gathered tonight and putting them away in their proper place. Since they had to go to so many different clinics to try and keep the disappearance of items low so as not to overburden any one medical facility or draw attention to themselves it meant that the items in the bags weren’t in any particular order and there was no way that Don could rest easily if there was a chance that any of the medicine might get mixed up on his shelves and the wrong one could be grabbed during an emergency.

At fifteen they hadn’t been going topside for very long now but in that time Don had seen them all go through his stash of supplies at lightning speed compared to before when they had been confided to just the sewer systems. Every fight they got in increased the chance of one or more of them getting hurt and needing medical attention and Don lived in fear of the day that he wouldn’t have what they needed and he could lose a brother. Methodically Don placed the bandages, gauze, sterile needles, pills, vials, thread, and everything else that had been gathered tonight in their proper place.

Once the bags that he and Leo had taken out with them were emptied and set aside Don took a moment to stare at the cabinet that had been refilled. Even with all of the supplies that they had and anything that he could go out and gather the genius still felt woefully short of what his family needed in order to keep them safe and healthy. It was his job as their doctor to see to their physical well being and yet he constantly worried if he was truly good enough to do just that.

Mikey was sitting out on the couch right now with a leg that would probably have a scar down the side of it because Don was unpracticed when it came to stitching up their turtle flesh. Sure he had practiced that skill before he had ever needed to use it on any of them but there was a huge difference between practice stitches in a banana peel and real stitches in the scaly flesh of a turtle that could barely hold still because of the pain.

It had been a simple trip to the junkyard but Mikey had managed to slip and slice his calf open on a piece of metal sticking out of the pile that he had been climbing on. Don couldn’t forget the way his fingers had quickly been covered in his brother’s blood when they got him home as he tried to clean the wound and patch it up. The best he had been able to give Mikey for the pain were a few pills that would take a while to kick in and even then they would only dull the pain, not relieve it completely. There had been nothing more to help the youngest as he was held down so Don could run a jagged line of stitches down his leg before cleaning it off with some antiseptic wipes and wrapping it up.

Closing his eyes tightly as though to try and erase the memory Don shook his head once more to try and clear it. There was nothing that he could do about the past. It was done and over with and he had done the best that he could at the time. The future was another thing though. He could do better in the future. He would do better in the future. He wasn’t going to let any of his brothers suffer just because he couldn’t do his job properly.

Reaching into the cabinet Don picked up a needle, thread, syringe, and a single vial of pain relieving medicine before making his way over to his desk. If practicing on a banana peel wasn’t going to give him the right feel for doing stitches than he was going to practice on the real thing. If the pain pills that they had weren’t going to be enough to help his family than he would find something better. Better still had to be safe though and Don wasn’t about to find out if what he and Leo had gathered was safe in the heat of the moment, not when he could find out right now.

Don carefully set out each of the supplies that he had gathered and took out a journal and pen to make notes with. Human physiology and turtle physiology were very different and as mutants they didn’t follow either one perfectly. Don had to know every difference and how anything would affect them. He would go through every medication he could get his hands on if he had to in order to make sure it was safe to use on his family and the only way to truly know what the reactions would be was to actually try them. He couldn’t risk having one of his brothers react badly to something that was perfectly safe for humans. He would never forgive himself if he allowed that to happen.

Once he had everything set up just the way he wanted them Don pulled his backup knife out of his belt. Laying his arm down on the desk so that the back faced up and there was little risk of accidentally nicking a vein he quickly thrust the blade into his flesh and drew it a good six inches down the left of his arm.

Pain flared out from the self inflicted wound making the turtle gasp and clench his hands. He didn’t want anyone of his family members to hear him so Don bit down on his tongue until he was sure that he had himself under control. Once he was sure that he wouldn’t shout out he laid the blade aside to be cleaned up later.

The first thing he needed to do now was to administer the pain relief and see how that affected him. Taking the vial in the hand of his injured arm Don picked up the syringe and carefully drew out the minimum dosage for someone of his weight. The genius had been very careful to research the common side effects in humans to this drug and needed to know how it would affect him and his brothers. Ignoring the lines of blood that ran down his arm and dripped onto his desk Don carefully lined the needle up with the vein in the crook of his elbow and administered the dosage.

When the syringe was empty Don set it aside to clean and sterilize again later. It was hard enough getting them in the first place Don was determined to make the supply they had last as long as he could even if it wasn’t ideal to reuse needles like that. It took a minute but the pain in his arm began to diminish until it was just a dull ache. Don made a note in his journal of the time it took to work and that Raph might need a higher dosage given his greater muscle mass.

As the injured turtle went to pick up the needle and thread to begin stitching his wound closed he could feel himself becoming a little flushed and made a note of that as well. A temporary increase in temperature was a common side effect of the drug and one it seemed that they would have to deal with as well.

Putting his focus towards the stitches Don was happy to see that his line was straighter and more even than what he had been able to give to Mikey. It could still use some work though. While the genius turtle did wish he had been able to give his brother better at least he knew he would be able to do so that next time his skills were needed.

It didn’t take him very long after that point to finish up and get the wound cleaned and wrapped. There was no doubt in Don’s mind that he would be questioned about the appearance of a wound that he hadn’t had the last time his family had seen him before going to bed but he already had an excused planned out for that. He had gotten nicks and cuts multiple times working with the things in his lab that his new wound wouldn’t be completely out of the ordinary. Sure he would get a lecture about being careful but it was worth it to have collected the data that he had tonight.

When Don went to stand up to put away everything that he had used he felt the world begin to spin around him and he sat back down in his chair hard. Apparently dizziness was another common side effect that they would need to deal with from this drug. Focusing, Don was able to jot that down in his journal began pulling himself together enough to complete the clean up. He had to stop multiple times to get his bearings before he was done but eventually everything was cleaned and put away.

The last task remaining to the genius was to finally give himself the opportunity to go to bed. The problem was that if he stumbled out of his lab and up to his bedroom someone was bound to notice that something was off with him and he really didn’t want to answer any questions about what he was doing.

There was no doubt in Don’s mind that his family wouldn’t understand the need for him to practice these types of procedures on himself and they would insist that he would do the best that he could on them when the moment came and that would be good enough. While that may have been good enough for them it wasn’t even close to being good enough for Don. It was his responsibility to look out for his family this way the way it was Leo’s responsibility to lead them and Don wasn’t about to do anything less than whatever it took to make sure he could keep his family healthy and whole.

Deciding to go with the path of least resistance Don turned off the lights in his lab and crawled into the cot that he had for when one of his brothers was too sick to sleep in their room. As he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep Don made a promise to himself that he would do whatever it took to make sure he was always ready to protect his family. He may not be the best ninja and be able to protect his brothers in a fight but he was bound and determined to protect them his own way and there was nothing that was going to stop him from doing just that.


End file.
